Current Affairs And General Knowledge 5-6 March 2018 PDF Download

Current Affairs And General Knowledge 5-6 March 2018 PDF Download

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5-6 March 2018

PM to inaugurate New CIC premises on 6th March

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new premises of Central Information Commission, CIC at Munirka in the capital tomorrow. The new building will enable the Commission to function from a single location. Earlier it was working on two hired buildings. The new CIC building is a State of the Art-Green Building constructed by National Building Construction Corporation ahead of its completion date. The five-story structure houses all the hearing rooms of the Central Information Commission with state of the art, IT and Video Conferencing Systems. CIC is the apex appellate body established by the Right to Information Act 2005.

Premium Tag for Coffee grown in Araku Valley

Coffee Board has applied for registration of Araku coffee under Geographical Indications to protect the unique identity of the coffee grown by the tribal communities of Araku Valley in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.

This was informed by Minister of State of Commerce and Industry,C.R.Chaudhary, in reply to a written question in Lok Sabha today.

The Central Government, through the Coffee Board, is promoting the production of coffee in Araku Valley by implementing the “Integrated Coffee Development Project”. The scheme includes extending financial support for replanting and expansion, the creation of water harvesting and irrigation infrastructures and mechanization of coffee estate operations. In the non-traditional areas, financial support is extended for consolidation of existing coffee plantations through gap filling and application of compost. Technical assistance is also provided by organizing capacity building programs and field demonstrations. TheCoffee Board is facilitating collective marketing of Araku Coffee by providing incentives at Rs. 10 per Kg for SHGs and grower collectives.

Arabica coffee from the Araku Valley area has gained popularity as a high-quality specialty coffee internationally. The Coffee Board has developed exclusive logos for coffee grown in the country based on their geographical distinctiveness.

Coffee Board encourages the coffee growers to participate in the “Flavour of India-The Fine Cup Award” competition organized by Coffee Board every year.

Sustained campaign for ensuring Swacchta by the Department of Consumer Affairs

The Department of Consumer Affairs observed Swachhta Pakhwada from 16-28 February, 2018. During this campaign, various activities/events were organized by the Department.

1. The Pakhwada began with the administration of Swachhta pledge to the employees of the Department on 16.2.2018. The Department carried out in-house activities through cleanliness drives in the office premises, holding of Nukkad Natak within and outside the office premises for generating awareness regarding swachhata.

2. During the Swachhta Pakhwada, nationwide campaigns on consumer awareness including consumers’ responsibility towards Swachhta were carried out on Doordarshan and major C&S channels. The campaign was also carried out on 30 FM channels, 66 Primary Channels & 88 local Radio Stations of All India Radio.

3. In order to put in place mechanism for the sustained campaign for ensuring Swachhta, the Department worked on two schemes namely, (i) Clean Consumer Fora and (ii) Clean Market.

Under the scheme, Clean Consumer Fora, financial assistance was given for construction of three toilets, one each for men, women and differently abled persons. It was given to 278 district fora for construction of 834 toilets. As part of the clean market scheme, Voluntary Consumer organizations (VCOs) are being associated with to carry out swachhta related activities in association with market associations and local authorities in marketplaces. Financial assistance of Rs. 15,000/- per month to selected VCO is given under the scheme. During Pakhwada, 8 VCOs in 5 states have been selected for such financial assistance.

4. Department conducted video conferencing with controllers of Legal Metrology in all states / UTs wherein Secretary, Consumer Affairs also interacted with the State Government officers. The officials of the State Governments were asked to engage shopkeepers and through them impress upon their consumers for cleanliness of shops.

5. The field offices of the Department of Consumer Affairs such as National Test House (NTH) and autonomous body, namely, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) also undertook innovative activities through their field offices. All the six regional offices of the NTH took up cleanliness drive in and around office premises including schools where students were sensitized to swacchta and water purifiers were installed.

6. Director General, BIS through video conferencing urged the heads of Regional Offices, Branch Offices, and laboratories to carry out cleanliness drive. As part of solid waste management, the Patna branch carried out campaigning about biodegradable waste. The regional offices of the Bureau carried out awareness programmes for consumers and industry for utilization of the standards on solid waste management. They also screened a film on street food vendors based on Indian standards in 9 schools and 2 localities.

National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) is engaged in documentation of Indian manuscripts. The documentation of manuscripts is done without any distinction between rare and common manuscripts. The manuscripts are possessed by the owners of the manuscripts. The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) obtains manuscripts data in soft copies from the Manuscripts Resource Centres (MRCs) established in State Archives, Universities and Institutions having large deposits of manuscripts. The soft copy of metadata furnished by the MRCs is restored in NMM server and after verification of data, it is uploaded on the website of NMM.

During the last decade, only one case was reported.

As per the provisions of Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 administered by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), the cases of stolen manuscripts are dealt with.

A total of 13 Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements from India have been inscribed till date on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

For inclusion of an element in the UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the state parties are required to submit nomination dossier on the relevant element for evaluation and examination of the UNESCO Committee.

The Ministry of Culture has appointed the Sangeet Natak Akademi, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture, as the nodal office for matters relating to the intangible cultural heritage including for preparation of the nomination dossiers for the Representative List of UNESCO. The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) accordingly makes necessary interaction with the stakeholders, experts/officials etc. prior to finalization of the dossier in respect of element identified for the nomination. Being the nodal office the SNA maintains a National Inventory of ICH elements and the inclusion of the identified element for UNESCO in the National Inventory/Register etc. of the applicant member state is also a pre-requisite for inclusion in the UNESCO’s Representative List of ICH.

The Ministry of Culture makes regular Schemes, as well as organizations, make efforts towards preservation, protection, and promotion of intangible cultural heritage in the country. Various autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Culture have comprehensive mandates in this regard and are functioning in various spheres of preservation and promotion of intangible cultural heritage and diverse traditions of the country. Some of the major organizations involved in the preservation of propagation of ICH are named below:

Sahitya Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sangeet Natak Akademi

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts

National School of Drama

Centre for Cultural Resources & Training

Zonal Cultural Centres (seven in number)

Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya

Anthropological Survey of India

Apart from these, there are a number of schemes under the implementation of the Ministry of Culture for providing financial assistance to artists & institutions involved in promotion/propagation of the various forms of the intangible cultural heritage. In addition, the Ministry of Culture implements, since the year 2013-14 also, a scheme titled “Scheme for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage and Diverse Cultural Traditions of India” with the aims and objectives of professionally enhancing awareness and interest in Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), safeguarding, promoting and propagating it systematically.

This information was given by Minister of State (IC) for Culture and Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

More than Rs.240 Crore released for 12 cities under HRIDAY Scheme

As per the information received from Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), a Central Sector Scheme, with a total outlay of Rs. 500 Cr. was launched on 21st January 2015.

HRIDAY scheme aims at preserving and revitalizing the soul and the unique character of the heritage cities in India. Under the Scheme, twelve cities namely, Ajmer, Amritsar, Amaravati, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni, and Warangal have been identified for development. The mission period of HRIDAY Scheme is till November 2018.

HRIDAY Scheme supports the development of core heritage linked civic infrastructure projects which includes revitalization of urban infrastructure for areas around heritage, religious, cultural and tourism assets of the cities. These initiatives include the development of water supply, sanitation, drainage, waste management, approach roads, footpaths, street lights, tourist conveniences, electrical wiring, landscaping etc.

So far, 63 projects amounting to Rs. 421.47 cr. for the12 HRIDAY Cities have been approved under the Scheme out of which 241.26 cr. has been released.

This information was given by Minister of State (IC) for Culture and Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Indian Navy concludes two months Long War Game

The Indian Navy concluded a grueling two-month long War Game on 28 Feb 18. The extensive War Games saw the participation of all the operational ships, submarines and aircraft of the Navy along with men and equipment of the Army, all types of aircraft of the Air Force and ships and aircraft of the Coast Guard. The War Games conducted on both the Seaboards of India extending from the Northern Arabian sea off the coast of Gujarat to the Southern Indian Ocean off the Sunda Straits near Indonesia. The War Game on the Eastern seaboard was codenamed ENCORE (Eastern Naval Command Operational Readiness Exercise) and on the Western seaboard, the codename was Exercise Paschim Lehar. The War Games were the first of the kind to be conducted on both seaboards indicative of the Navy’s threat perceptions of a two-front war.

The Chief of Naval Staff in Feb 17 had ordered a comprehensive review of the way the Navy exercised at sea. This review included both, peacetime operations as well as the training and preparations for war. The internal review undertaken by the Navy resulted in the ‘Mission-based Deployment’ concept which has been put into action since Jul 17. Mission-ready ships are now forward deployed in critical areas of the IOR with the inherent capability to respond to emerging threats and benign situations. The Navy has already reaped rich dividends from this Concept and large excerpts of this were also spoken about by Prime Minister Modi in his Mann ki Baat interactions.

Indigenous DRDO Defence Project

DRDO has designed and developed indigenous Surface-to-Air missile system AKASH and NAG Missile (3rd generation fire & forget Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM)). A project for another ATGM has also been taken up.

In the last two years, five Troops of AKASH were delivered to Indian Army and two Squadrons of AKASH missile systems were delivered to Indian Air Force (IAF). Further, production orders are to be placed by IAF and Army for AKASH missile system. Regarding ‘NAG’ & ‘NAMICA’ initial activities related to Production/Transfer of Technology (ToT) documentation & private/public production partners has been initiated.

As a result of successful development production and induction of AKASH missiles system, Rs.34,500 Cr foreign exchange could be saved by existing production order and many orders are in pipeline from army and IAF. Since the technology of ‘NAG’ is indigenous and production will be carried out at Indian Production Agencies, no ToT / Technology Acquisition/huge import is involved. Therefore, there will be the huge saving of Foreign Exchange.

This information was given by Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to Shri Amar Singh in Rajya Sabha today.

Measures and Policies for Tackling Climate Change

“In the pre-2020 period, India announced its voluntary goal to reduce the emission intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 20-25 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020.According to Biennial Update Report submitted by Government of India to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2016, India has achieved 12% reduction in emission intensity between 2005 and 2010 and is on course to achieve the voluntary goal by 2020. Under the Paris Agreement, India has submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC outlining eight (8) targets for 2021-2030, including (i) to reduce Emission Intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level, (ii) to achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF), (iii) to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. The other targets pertain to sustainable lifestyles; climate-friendly growth path; climate change adaptation; climate change finance; and capacity building and technology.

Plantation of Trees along Highways/Railways tracks

“Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) does not implement any scheme for plantations along the highway sides and on vacant land along railway tracks. The National Forest Policy (NFP), 1988 encourages plantation of trees alongside roads, railway lines, rivers, streams, canals etc. under social forestry. The Ministry in consonance with the NFP, 1988, has issued an advisory to State Forest Departments for partnering with Railways and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) subject to the feasibility for taking up plantation of trees along the highway sides and vacant areas by the side of railway tracks. MoEF&CC also circulated Model Guidelines to all States/UTs for plantation on Railway land and plantation on sides of National Highways.

PM reviews preparations for the launch of Ayushman Bharat

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, on Monday, reviewed the progress of preparations towards the launch of Ayushman Bharat – the National Health Protection Scheme announced in the recent Union Budget.

At a high-level meeting over two hours, the Prime Minister was apprised of the work done so far, by top officials of PMO, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and NITI Aayog, for smooth roll-out of the scheme.

The scheme will provide a cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family. It will be targeted to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families. The beneficiaries will be able to avail cashless benefits across India.

To also launch the scheme for District Driving Training Centres, Grant of financial assistance for Road Safety Advocacy and Awards for outstanding work in the field of Road Safety

Union Minister forRoad Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari will launch a mobile App and Toll-free Emergency number for Highway users tomorrow in New Delhi.

Sukhad Yatra mobile application has been prepared by National Highways Authority of India, NHAI, to empower the Highway user. The key feature of the app includes provision for the user to enter road quality-related information or to report any accident or pothole on the highway. It also provides users with real-time data related to waiting time expected at Plazas and various facilities like points of interest, highway nest/nest mini, etc., available across the highway. The app can also be used by the users to purchase the FASTag tag and further facilitate the highway user experience.

A toll-free number, 1033, will enable users to report an emergency condition, or highway-related feedback, across the highway. The service has also integrated with various ambulance/tow away services along the road to ensure rapid response time in an emergency. The service is supported by a multi-lingual support and user location tracking features to provide the user with accurate and responsive complaint resolution.

At least one model driving training center will be set up in each district of the State or UT. financial assistance of up to Rs. 1 Crore will be provided by the Ministry. The agency shall also invest an equal amount of the grant under the scheme. The scheme is designed with an objective of creating employment and meeting the requirement of HMV and LMV drivers in the country. It also aims at inculcating the habit of road safety, like behavioral and attitudinal changes among drivers. The training course will be conducted for drivers who carry dangerous/hazardous goods. The agencies willing to open the center shall be required to provide infrastructure facilities like land, classrooms, simulator, etc.

Under the scheme for grant of financial assistance for administering Road Safety Advocacy and awards for the outstanding done in the field of Road Safety, assistance up to Rs. 5 lakh will be provided to NGO / Trust / Cooperative Societies and another agency for administering road safety programme. Three awards of Rs. 5 lakhs, Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 1 lakh will be given in each State / UT to the individuals of agencies engaged in road safety advocacy and allied activities.